


Very Good Bad Thing

by thiriumdeficiency



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Cybernetics, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reader-Insert, Reader-Interactive, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-28 11:45:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15048236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thiriumdeficiency/pseuds/thiriumdeficiency
Summary: [ Genderless reader (or I'm going to try my hardest to make it genderless for the sake of everyone). ]You're one of Cyberlife's newest achievements which definitely comes with some pros. And it also comes with some pretty awful cons. (And some good Con(ner)s, haha I'm funny)





	1. Only Half Faked.

**JAN**   **5TH, 2039.**

**10:56:03 PM.**

 

Your eyes flutter open for the first time in what feels like years and you blink, only one eye having to get used to the bright lights shining above you. The other eye seems fine, adjusting immediately and focusing on the face peering into your view. It's a pretty face, with tan skin and warm brown eyes and reddish brown hair.

"Good, the anesthesia didn't knock you out for too long," the women says, one of her hands sliding under your back to help you sit up. She makes sure you're comfortable before pulling away and standing at the end of the hospital style bed you're laying in, her fingers resting on it. "It might take some getting used to and you may feel a bit of discomfort for a while, it's all normal though. If any of them start to feel odd or the discomfort doesn't go away after a few days, come back and we'll check it out. Okay?"

You nod, though you're not entirely sure what you're nodding in agreement too. The last thing you remember is being in a hospital room, blind in one eye and bed ridden as a representative from Cyberlife offered you a life changing offer. You remember them saying something along the lines of "new technology" and you also remember a promise that you would be better than your best once they were done. Now, you can't even remember why you had said yes but they were right. You felt better than you ever had before.

"This is probably a shock to you. Would you like me to tell you about what we did or would you like to figure it out for yourself?" the women, a doctor is your best guest, asks.

"Please, tell me," you say, your voice not entirely warmed up so the request comes out scratchy and strained.

She helps you off the bed and leads you towards a mirror, the room around you a sterile white with accents of blue and slate. "Your memory might be hazy, but you were in an accident involving a truck. You were trying to get to the border to get out of Detroit to visit your father's grave and you didn't see it coming. You sustained multiple injuries, mostly to your right side because that's where the impact was." She positions you in front of the mirror, a gentle hand on your shoulder. "Your eye was ruined, your right arm was almost completely torn off, and your knee was what took most of your fall impact when you landed. We've replaced your eye, your arm and part of your ribs, and your knee cap is now replaced with a sturdy metal. Everything that was damaged is covered by the same material used on androids, it self repairs just slower."

You watch her as she talks, barely taking in all the information. Accident? Truck? You don't remember any of this but flashes of loud horns and bright lights fill your head and it slowly starts to make sense. Finally, as if you were afraid, you turn to look at yourself in the mirror and stare for a long time. You look virtually the same as you did before, except you're only barely covered by some underwear and the right half of your body looks brand new. Your arm seems cleaner than the rest of your body and there's a very faint blue glow around your shoulder. And connected to that, under your arm and along your ribcage is the same thing, along with the two bolts on either side of your knee. The biggest shock, however, is the light grey eye that stares back and takes in all of this, and you touch your temple only the world to suddenly go grayscale.

"Holy shit-"

"Sorry, I should've mentioned that. The eye functions like an android's does, but you have physically engage it. If you touch here-" she gently brushes her fingers over your temple and the grayscale fades, "-you'll trigger the same sort of...hub that an android has. It will show you all your vitals and do the same scanning and examining. If you don't want that, we can disable it and it will function as a normal eye."

You shake your head slowly, blinking your right eye a few times and watching as the pupil dilates each time. "No, it's fine. I think I should keep it for a while anyway, to keep an look out for my vitals and stuff." You rub your shoulder. It definitely isn't skin but it's so similar that you wouldn't be able to tell if you weren't expecting it. "So I can run a diagnosis and all that?"

"Mhm, exactly like an android." The women moves away from you and comes back with a clean stack of clothes. "We ask that you come back at least once a week for a physical check up and some physiotherapy to get you adjusted and to get your new units adjusted to you as well."

"Of course," you agree, pulling on the clothes and looking at yourself again. "Are these run by Thirium?"

She nods. "Yep. The process of getting them to cooperate with regular blood and not harm you is hard to explain, but you are definitely a fighter when it comes to staying alive. We asked you so many times throughout the process if you wanted to stop but you always said no. Now, you're almost completely half android. First edition, as some would say."

You laugh a little and push your hair out of your face. "Well...thank you so much. For my therapy, I just come back to the...I'm guessing we're in the Cyberlife Tower?"

"Yes, you'll come back here and you'll be allowed clearance. We'll also make sure you have an escort for the first couple times so you don't get lost," she explains as she leads you out of the room and down a glass hallway. Once you reach the front doors she hands you a small round button. "This is an LED. You don't have to use it but should you _want_ to, it's an option. It's already connected to you and will function as it does with androids. WE have a car prepared for you and it will take you wherever you would life. We'll see you in a week, Mx. [last name]."

You load yourself into the car and tell the driver the address of your favourite place to eat, leaning back and watching as the city of Detroit zips by. Curiously, you look down at your hand and focus hard, jumping a little when a small hologram of a news article appears in your palm.

' _21 year old [first name] was brought to the hospital at around 9 PM on December 27th due to life threatening injuries. They were in surgery for over 14 hours until they were stabilized. Sources say Cyberlife paid them a visit and they were taken to the Cyberlife Tower not too long after. Many are wishing for their swift recovery but are also wondering why Cyberlife had such an interest in their accident.'_

The article disappears and you look back out at the city, recognizing the neighbourhood and that you're only a few minutes away from the restaurant. You thank the driver when you get there and head inside, rubbing the back of your neck when the warmth and the smell of greasy fries and barbecued burgers hits your nose. Stomach growling, you sit in your normal seat and smile at Ira, the waitress who always takes a care of you.

"[First name]!" she exclaims, rushing over to you and affectionately cupping your face with both hands. "We all heard about your accident. Are you alright? Why did - what the hell is that?!" She suddenly jerks your head to the side and eyes your new eye viciously, her eyebrows shooting up.

"Cyberlife gave me replacements for all the damaged things on my body. No cost, either. My knee, my arm and ribs, my eye...it's all new," you say softly and gently push the frantic lady's hands away from your face. "I'm okay, Ira. I really just need a burger and some fries. Oh! And the best shake you can whip up."

She stares at you for a little longer before giving a warm smile and putting in the order, chatting with the cook who gives you the same warm smile and a wave. When your food arrives you eat like you've never eaten before, barely breathing in between bites and getting ketchup all over your chin which you eventually clean up with a napkin. While letting your food settle, you look at the milkshake and gently press your temple, the world going grayscale as a number of ingredients pop up next to the glass. You give an amused laugh and turn it off, leaning back and closing your eyes.

It worries you that you can't remember anything about being in the hospital or event talking to someone from Cyberlife, and the idea of having brand new body parts from a company that is responsible for deviants is a little nerve wracking as well, but you're also incredibly thankful you're fully healed for the most part and functioning properly. As your getting ready to pay, your mind palace suddenly pops up with a red warning. It reads "risk of exhaustion", lingers for a few seconds, then things go back to normal.

"I gotta get some sleep! Thank you for the food," you tell Ira, handing her a twenty but she pushes your hand away and gives your cheek a gentle peck before pushing you out the door. You grin and start walking home, knowing the way well enough that you don't pay attention to much to the stuff surrounding you. This route you've walked so many times you could do it with your eyes closed. As you're walking, only a couple more blocks from your apartment, you hear a loud metal banging and some muffled cries. Gently, you ease yourself along a wall and peer into an alley.

On its knees, hunched over, is an android with blue dripping from its lips and nose. Above it is a man who is hammering into the android's stomach repeatedly with his foot, swearing. "You fucking piece of plastic! Think you can take my job?! I was gone one day and then went and replaced me with a glorified wind up robot!"

"Stop it!" you find yourself shouting, hurrying down the alley.

The android's head whips to look at you before it knocks the man onto his back and starts to strangle him. There's a few moments of this, you barely reaching them, before there's another loud bang and the man goes still. The android turns to look at you, its eyes large and wild as blue blood pools around it and onto the man's dead body.

"Oh my god..." you breathe, fairly certain you might vomit from the sight. You reach down to help the android up, fingers of your new arm just barely touching its own, before a heart wrenching shock goes through your body and it goes limp. You find yourself out of breath and hyperventilating, arm clutched over your stomach as you stare at the new one and watch the skin slowly go back to normal to hide the white material underneath. After vomiting for a good while, you manage to find your phone and dial emergency services, croaking out, "There was a fight, this guy is dead and I just... I just felt this android..."

"Police are on their way to your location, what else can you tell me? Hello? Hello?" the voice echoes in your head as you slump against the wall, vision going blurry before it goes black.


	2. Normality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for liking this is getting it to over 600 hits in 24 hours, that means so much to me! And thank you for voting about the LED. There won't be an option to vote every chapter but if it is something I feel you guys can vote on, I'll definitely let you. Also, sorry if this chapter feels a bit off or rushed, it's just the way I write sometimes.

**JAN 6TH, 2039.**

**01:23:51 AM.**

 

Red and blue lights flash around you as a soft spoken police officer sits you against the far end of the alley wall and makes you focus on his face. "The detectives will be here any minute to look at the crime scene. They'll want to question you so they'll probably take you back to the station," he says, crouched and still managing to be taller than you, "sit here, I'll find you some water. Don't move."

You won't even if you can. There's a heavy pounding in your head, the new arm tingling around the shoulder. The android had literally died in your arms and you had felt it. You had accidentally made the connection and you felt the life draining out of it. Life from a machine, a thing that wasn't living and yet it felt so much pain when it was dying. You started to feel sick again, tucking your knees up and hugging them for comfort.

Police come and go, the officer eventually bringing water beflre returning to his job, and both the bodies are carried away but to different places. The man will be taken away for an autopsy then for a funeral, the android will be taken back to Cyberlife and scraped. And it doesn't surprise you how things haven't changed too much from a few months ago. It's considered murder now, to kill an android, but what's the point of having a funeral when no one will attend it?

You're almost done your water bottle when another pair of legs dressed in dark denim comes into few, the man - or android, as you notice - crouching in front of you with a tilted head. You stare back just as equally intense, though your stare is more wild and his is calculated.

"You're [First name], yes?" the RK800 asks, tie dangling between it's knees. _His_ knees. He does resemble male and it's not like they're _just machines_ anymore.

"Yeah, yes that's me," you reply and push yourself to your feet clumsily, almost knocking heads with the android before pulling away last second and stumbling back to lean on the wall. Everything still hurts, head included.

"We need you to comr back to the station you answer some questions, are you able to walk to the car?" he asks gently, voice soft and yes has a hint of a rough tone to it. It's hard to describe or even process but it's nice.

You nod lazily and gesture with a hand. "Lead the way."

At this moment, you notice the huamn next to the android step forward and gently take your elbow. "Connor, you do that disgusting sample thing and I'll get this one to the car," he says, leading you out of the alley and into an older car that doesn't match the autonomous ones being sold nowadays. Some people like the past things they had. As he's sitting you down, the man leans on the car. "If you need anything while you're waiting, just let someone Know you're looking for Lieutenant Anderson. That's me." He leaves right away, obviously not one for lingering.

Sleepily, exhaustion slowly taking over your body, you watch the police go over every detail in the alleyway. It's a sight to see, really. Everything is checked and then double checked, and the android detective seems to be the one deducing most of what happened but he occasionally glanced towards the car and keeps talking. You guess it's because they need to hear your side of the story in order to figure everything out.

Once the detectives are back in the car, bickering something that happened, you zone out completely. Brain still tingling from the death, heart slowing but still strong as you try your hardest to piece everything together. You shouldn't be able to feel any android die, should you? You're not directly and android. But it did touch your arm and

"We'll get you some coffee and something to eat once we're at the station, okay? You're not a suspect," rhe human, Lieutenant Anderson, cuts into your thoughts, his eyes meeting yours in the mirror for a moment before returning to the road.

"Okay. Thank you." The words are slurred and you're definitely looking forward to that coffee.

After getting you situated next to the Lieutenant's desk, coffee and a bagel in your hands, they both sit down but there's an obvious difference between them. Anderson sits, relaxed in his desk chair, while the android every so slightly leans on the desk with his eyes fixed on you. One has a mission and one couldn't care less.

"[First name], how did you know something was happening in the alley?" the RK800 asks.

Swallowing, you think back to when you had been walking and furrow your eyebrows. "I was walking home and that neighbourhood is usually peaceful so when I heard a bang I thought wild animal or something."

"What did you see when you first entered the scene?"

"I saw an android on it's knew, bloody, and the man kicking the crap out of him while ranting about how the android took his job and how he was replaced by a machine," you explain, hearing it in your head as you say it and frowning further. "It wasn't fair, it's not like the android could've said no to taking the job."

The android nods slowly. "Yes, but the android has the ability to come back if fixed properly. The human is dead and will stay dead. The man, he died from a gunshot to the heart at pointblank range. Did you see a gun?"

You shake your head. "No, no gun. I heard the sound but didn't see any weapon."

The Lieutenant grunts and looks at his partner. "No weapon on the crime scene either. Think the android hid it before it died?"T

"hat's a possibility, we'll find out once the-"

"No, no there was no gun! In the time between when the shot went off and when I felt the android died...it's impossible that it hid a gun. It was only a handful of seconds," you rush out, gripping the coffee cup a bit harder before sighing. "Sorry, that was..." You shut yourself up by taking a bite of the bagel.

The RK800 turns to its partner fully, back almost completely to you. "I have to see the body of the android. I'll check everything."

"Yeah, yeah, you can go see it. Let me know anything you find!" the Lieutenant gets louder his android partner walks away. He looks back to you and pats his knees gently. "Thank you for the help. We'll get you a taxi home and contact you if we need any further help."

The apartment is quiet when you get home, flicking on one light and rubbing your eyes before you a metallic clicking and look up to see Martin, the android you had saved from the junkyard, sitting on the couch.

"[First name], you're finally home," Martin says and stands, making his way over to you. He hugs you, letting out a simulated sigh in your ear. "I was so worried about you."

You hug back gently and then slip out of his arms, giving a reassuring pat to his shoulder. "I'm okay, Martin. Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

"You got several messages from distant family wishing you well. I deleted them because you said any distant family is distant for a reason," Martin informs you and follows you into the kitchen, eyes eagerly following your every movement. "Then the city called and left a message saying the library was temporarily closed in your absence. They've paused all the androids working until you return."

You scowl and take a sip of water. "We're gonna have a pile up for returned books," you mumble and head towards your room, turning to Martin. "I'm gonna sleep, wake me up at my usual time please?"

"Of course." Martin nods and glances over his shoulder at the living room before going there, shutting the light off.

You make yourself at home and easily fall asleep.

 

* * *

 

 

**JAN 7TH, 2039.**

**08:36:09 AM.**

 

The library is deadly silent when you arrive, Martin locking the door behind you once you're inside. The wall to the right, where the android resting station is, is filled with the various androids that help around the library. But their attentions turns to you as you flick the lights on. "Alright, we open at 10 and we've got a lot of books to check before then. Everyone on board?" you asks, giving them an encouraging smile.

At 9:30, you finally finish shelving the returns. The androids go about their usual jobs once the hustle is over, scattering across the large building and leaving you alone at the front desk with Martin who scans the room. "We're missing one."

"Hm?" you ask, not really paying attention due to the absolute shit show that is the holds list.

"We're missing an android. I count three but we have 4 registered under your name."

You look up from the screen and stand. "You're sure you're not leaving yourself out of the counting?"

"I don't normally count myself. Four other androids, excluding me," Martin says and holds a hand up. Spread out on his palm is a small diagram of the library, little yellow dots shifting and blinking every few seconds to represent the androids doing their jobs. He drops his hand and cranes his neck to look at the second level of the library. "Perhaps it shut down while you were away. Do you want me to do a sweep of the library?"

You shake your head and duck under the counter. "I'll do it. Can you make sure the paging list gets finished please?" You head off towards the deeper corners of the building, slowly making your way through the mixture of new and old shelves. When your father had passed he left you the library and the city threatened to close it down. You fought tooth and nail to keep it open and they only agreed if you promised to update everything inside, so you had. New shelves, new floors, a brand new interior and even parts of the exterior were new. The androids had been an addition too because the collection had expanded a good deal. Now, it was two floors of knowledge with small computer areas on each.

Eventually you find yourself on the second floor, peaking down every aisle to see if any shut down androids are lingering in the shadows. You're just about to turn back towards the front desk when you see a hand just barely peeking out from behind a shelf, so you slowly approach. Immediately the smell of rot fills the air around you and it takes most of your will not to vomit when you see the dead body of a human women, dried blood pooled onto the floor around her with her shirt soaked in it.

"Holy shit," you breathe and rapidly tap at your temple. You recite the address to the responder quickly, head whipping around for any signs of...anything really. Once the responder has finished speaking, you step over the body and creep down the aisles in hopes of finding anything that could help the police when they arrive. It seems the police are a frequent in your life now.

You use your eye to scan the floor, seeing very faint blue traces leading away from the dead body and into a second floor bathroom. Gently, carefully, you push the door open and slip inside. "Hello? Is anyone there? I promise I'm not going to hurt you," you say softly, trying to keep your voice steady.

One of the stalls slams open and one of the androids, a PJ500, comes out holding a gun. The same gun you're sure you keep locked in the little box underneath the desk just in case something goes wrong. This is that gun.

"Whoa, whoa hey. I'm just - I just wanna talk," you assure it - _her_.

"You left us! You left us and they shut us off because we weren't being useful but we were! We were doing what you told us to do! Why did you shut us off?!" she yells, her hands barely holding the gun straight as she glares at you.

You shake your head, keeping your hands up. "I didn't know they were going to shut you down. I had no idea. I was in the hospital. See?" You hold your right arm further out and let the synthetic skin pull away, showing the white plastic underneath as you wiggle your fingers. "Cyberlife helped me after I had an accident, I didn't know they would turn you off."

"You're... how did you... you're lying! You shut us off because we're not useful to you anymore!"

"You're very useful to me, Sammy," you say, remembering the name she had asked you to call her when she first arrived. It was one her previous owners had given her. "You help a lot around the library. You're one of the fastest shelvers and you're great with the children that come in. Why would I want to shut you off?"

She frowns and closes her eyes, as if doubting herself more than what you're saying. "No, no you-"

The bathroom door swings open and you just barely catch a glimpse of Lieutenant Anderson and the RK800 before Sammy flinches and moves back. You catch her finger sliding to the trigger and without thinking things through, you back up and push the door closed with your left side, hearing a loud gunshot and feeling a sharp jerk in your right shoulder. You wait a few seconds, breathing hard, then look to your shoulder to see blue blood pouring out of it. "Fuck," you hiss, stepping away from the door which opens quickly, followed by the Lieutenant and the RK800 holding guns towards Sammy.

"Shit, you're bleeding!" Lieutenant Anderson says, looking at your shoulder. "Hey, ain't you the one from the other night?"

"Lieutenant!" the RK800 yells as Sammy charges towards the three of you.

You brace a hand on the android detective's shoulder and kick out with your foot, knocking Sammy back a bit and lunging for the gun which you get your hands around and turn to point at her quickly. "Sammy, they're already gonna take you in for murder. Don't make this any worse. If you stay calm they might listen to what you have to - hey - what-" Sammy grabs your wrist and presses the barrel of the gun to her chin, pressing her fingers over yours before pulling the trigger with an echoing bang.

You feel the same shock you felt the other night, mind going fuzzy and vision spotted. Your ears ring with a high pitched whine as you stand there, swaying a bit as the android's body slumps to the ground at your feet and the gun falls from your hands. Again. You felt an android die again except this time it was more sudden and it hurt. You don't even realize the detectives are yelling at you until the ringing fades and you see them both staring, worried looks in their eyes. 

"Huh?" you blurt.

"Are you okay?" the Lieutenant asks. "Dead androids seems to be a theme for you."

"No shit," you breathe, looking down to Sammy's body. "I felt her die, like I did with the one last night. I felt them both die while I was touching them and it's like... _I'm_ dying."

"Well you're not, okay? So breathe," he says.

The RK800 just stares at you before reaching his arm out and grasping yours. "Did it feel like this?"


	3. Paths Never Taken (Until Now).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somewhat uneventful.

**JAN 7TH, 2039.**

**09:49:03 AM.**

 

Everything is static for a minute, humming in your ears, then your vision flashes and you see a split second fragment of memory. But it's not the RK800's, it's another android's. It's like seeing a picture of a picture, blurry around the edges with a vignette around the word " _Jericho_ ". Then there's another flash, a high pitched ringing as you jerk away from the android and take a shaky breath, your eyes locked with his. "What the fuck was that?" you ask breathlessly.

"I felt another android die too, while I was probing its memory. It shot itself in the head while we were connected and it felt like I was dying," the android says, his arm slowly resting by his side again. "Did it feel like that?"

You nod quickly. "Yes. Yes it did. Exactly like that."

"What the shit are you on about?" Lieutenant Anderson interrupts, eyebrows arched as he jerks a hand at the dead android at your feet. "We have an android that committed suicide and a dead body waiting for us! What are we doing hangin' around comparing trauma for?" He pushes the door open and leaves with a grumble under his breath, but his partner doesn't follow.

"You felt it twice," the RK800 states matter-of-factly.

"I did."

He presses his lips together and turns to the door before pausing. "We need you to come in again for more questioning. I might need to access your memory as well, if that's a possibility with your Cyberlife implants."

"It apparently is," you murmur, following him out the door. "What about Sammy?"

"Someone will be sent to pick up the android and disassemble it, dispose of the damaged parts and recycle the in shape ones. If there is anything she might have been carrying that you would like to keep, I suggest you mention it to the lieutenant so he can make someone aware of that request." The RK800 seems to be back to his normal self. Solving the crime and finishing the mission. Whatever moment of near humanity he had, deviant or not, this seems to be his default.

You do as he suggests, telling Lieutenant Anderson about the set of keys Sammy had been given to give her access to all areas of the library. Then, after watching them examine everything and start to pack up, you follow the two detectives out to there care, telling Martin to shut the library for the day and order a cleaning service for the entire library. It won't be the same when you come back. The stains of the dead woman will forever haunt the upper floor and Thirium will stain the bathrooms even if they're cleaned hundreds of times. The thought of that almost makes you want to give up the library, tell the city they can do what they want with it because you won't want to deal with that image and nightmare on your conscience all the time. You don't want people not coming because of a murder, and you can't keep the press from getting a hold of that information.

The station is more bustling than the night before, and you sit in the same chair but somehow more exhausted and upset than the last time. You give the detectives a tired look. "Maybe I should just move in," you joke.

Lieutenant Anderson laughs. "Maybe. You can just sleep on that chair and Connor'll bring you bagels and coffee everyone morning."

The RK800 - Connor, now that it's been said and you remember him being called that the day before - gives a gentle smile to the lieutenant before leaning on the desk again, fixing you with the same glare as the day before. "How did you find the woman's body?"

"My android, personal android, told me that we were missing one of the four androids that help around the library. It's not normal for them to not be at the resting station or doing something on the floor, and Martin couldn't see her on the little blueprint that we use to keep track of them, so I went looking. I was just walking when I saw her...hand, and then her. Then I followed the blue blood drips to the bathroom," you explain, realizing that explaining multiple murders is horrible and definitely going to leave and impact on you.

"And Cyberlife provided you with these...cybernetics, and they allow you to access the same hub that regular androids do, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think these cybernetics also enhance your reaction times?"

"I don't see how this is relevant to the case. I found Sammy in the bathroom and she blamed me for all the androids getting temporarily shut off while I was in the hospital and at Cyberlife Tower. Then you guys burst in and she freaked and I got shot. I'm still shot, by the way, and I'm losing blood as we speak but I can't feel it and I'm too tired to run a diagnostic," you say irritatedly, glaring back at Connor with burning eyes. "So if you're not going to ask important questions, I'd like to take a taxi to Cyberlife and get them to fix this."

Connor seems to clench his jaw before suddenly leaving, disappearing around a corner. Lieutenant Anderson watches. "Never seem him look that pissed off before. Guess you telling him he wasn't doing his job really got under his skin. Thank you for...savin' my life and all that crap. I owe you a drink, or the taxi to Cyberlife."

"The taxi to Cyberlife is fine, Lieutenant," you say, relaxing back into the chair.

"Hank. My names Hank and the moody robot is Connor." He pushes himself on to his feet and grabs his wallet. "C'mon, lets get you that taxi. We definitely have your number if we need it now. The library should stayed closed a few days too, just until this gets sorted out."

"Yeah, I wasn't planning on going back right away."

Cyberlife is eerily quiet when you get there, aside from the guards that escort you towards the office where the doctor who you woke up to is sitting. She sees the wound in your arm and stares. "What-"

"Deviant at the library freaked and tried to shoot a detective so I stood in front him. Is it fixable?" you ask.

"Of course it is, sit." She stands as you sit and walks over to you, pushing the sleeve of your shirt up and pressing a few spaces around where the arm joins your shoulder. Suddenly you lose all feeling in that are as she pulls it away from your body and the skin fades off it, leaving it the white material it's made out of. She dials a number on her phone, leaning close to it. "Please send a replacement arm unit for [Full name]. The unit number should be on file," she says and puts the arm on her desk.

You look down at where the arm had been and look away quickly, almost vomiting from the sight of wires hanging out from the empty space. It's not skin, there's nothing remotely human about it with the blueish colour and the occasional sparking, but it would resemble tendons and nerves if it was red and bleeding.

Sooner than expected, though, a new arm arrives and the doctor presses it into place with ease, rolling the sleeve of your shirt back down with a gentle murmur of, "Be more careful in the future okay? We're more than willing to help but spare parts are costly to us and we would like to keep some available for our real androids."

You nod in understanding. "Sorry. I was just...he was human and I knew it wouldn't kill me if it hit the arm."

"That's very thoughtful of you," she says and gives a warm and yet somehow condescending smile. "Everything else seems to be in working order so how about we skip this weeks check in session, considering this was technically it. Next week, please drop by so we can drop in," she pauses, "Are you feeling any discomfort?"

Thinking about it, you haven't noticed any other than a dull humming in the back of your mind but you figured that might just be the technology working constantly. Androids probably wouldn't notice it. You shrug. "Just this droning in my head but I don't notice it unless I focus on it so I'm guessing it isn't a big deal? If it gets louder or anything I'll give you a call, it isn't horrible right now."

"Good, good. Thank you for stopping by." She seems to rush you out of her office faster than usual, closing the door once you're out. You get escorted back to the exit where the taxi is still waiting.

 

* * *

 

 

**JAN 7TH, 2039.**

**04:51:33 PM.**

 

You chow down on your fries from _Chicken Feed_ with energy but can't get the flashes of the memories Connor showed you out of your head, your eyes staring to hurt and a headache definitely on its way. Still, you take your mind off of it by focusing on the food and the sound of cars passing in the puddles, eyes fixed on the pavement in a dead stare. You're not sure why this is bugging you, the idea of being able to feel androids die if you connect with them. The feeling that you got from Connor when he showed you that memory. He almost felt sad, and that projected to you. Frustratedly, you throw your garbage in the trash and head towards the station, needing some or any insight on what the fuck this "feeling an android die" thing was all about.

As you head into the station, breezing past a few officers and looking around for the RK800, your head starts to pound painfully. You swear under your breath, walking to Hank's desk. "Lieutenant, do you know where Connor is?"

The detective swivels in his chair to give you a curious look. "Connor? I think he's in the bathroom right now, he said something about needing to adjust some settings. I don't wanna know what that means but-"

"Thanks," you interrupt and spin on your heel, heading to the bathroom. You push the door open and see Connor staring at himself in the mirror, adjusting his jacket before fidgeting with the LED on the side of his head. He notices you and barely makes a noise before you grip his arm, making the connection, and project what you had felt when the two androids died on to him. Once it's over, you pull your arm away. "Partial pay back for earlier today, and also...I don't get it."

He stares at you, lips slightly apart. "I'm..."

"This isn't a normal thing for androids is it? They don't just feel people die if they die touching them, do they? Why does it hurt so much? Why does it feel like I'm still experiencing that?" you blabber at him in a rush, a mess of panic and almost on the verge of tears as the headache only gets stronger and stronger.

Connor reaches forward and presses hand to your forehead, the touch cold, and it soothes the pounding a bit. "You need water and medication. I believe Lieutenant Anderson has some at his desk. Would you like me to get it?"

"Please," you breath softly, letting him lead you out of the bathroom and to the small break area where he sits you in an armchair and then disappears only to return a few moments later with two white pills in his palm. He drops them into your hand and gives you a bottle of water, watching you almost eagerly as you down the medicine and the water in under a 30 seconds. You wipe your mouth and look back at him, suddenly noticing how intent his stare was. "Connor, I know you might be worried or taking this all in but you're staring is creeping me out just a little."

He blinks a few times and nods, rubbing his hands together as he pulls his eyes away from you. "The feeling never went away or me. I still experience sometimes, if I'm resting or in my head too often."

"So you just live with it?" you ask, eyebrows furrowing.

"For now, yes. I would ask to get my memory cleaned but you can't target specific moments or memories so I worry it would take something important to a case."

You twist the cap of the water bottle on off for a bit, thinking that over with furrowed eyebrows and your toes clenched in your shoes. You want the lingering feeling to go away. The empty echo that feeling the androids die left in your head is a constant annoyance and is more uncomfortable than painful, but it won't go away. It is forever ebbing in the back of your mind, reminding you.

Connor just stands in front of you. "I don't understand how you felt them die. Yes, you're part android and can connect, but did they connect it to your brain? Do you know if they did that?"

"The doctor at Cyberlife told me that I could do everything an android could do within reason. Connecting to probe memories and stuff included, but I wasn't trying to connect the two times I was holding an android when they died, I was just making contact," you explain, matching the confused tone in Connor's voice.

He runs a hand through his hair; it's a movement so human that you could almost forget he was an android if he didn't have the glowing triangle and arm band. Still, the puzzled look on his face is human enough to convey the slight concern he has for your situation.

"Don't worry too much about it, okay? I mean after this I hopefully won't be feeling any androids die, so it shouldn't be a problem," you assure him as you stand, tossing the water bottle in the trash.

"You came here looking for me," he reminds you, "shouldn't I be the one to tell you that?"

You can't help the little laugh that slips out, nodding as you look away with slight embarrassment. "It was a spur of the moment thing. I thought maybe you had some answers but you're just as confused as I am so I guess you can't really put but mind at ease." You shift back and forth for a moment. "Maybe we should talk to Cyberlife about it," you say, half joking.

Connor's face lifts ever so slightly and he nods. "I think that would be a good idea."

"Wait - hold on - I was just joking."

"Yes I know but if they're the ones who set up this connection thing, they're the ones who can explain what might be going on. I'll go tell Lieutenant Anderson where I'm going and we'll go to Cyberlife," he says it so firmly that you don't have it in you to object, so you just stand there and stare at the space where he had been.

**Author's Note:**

> Should the reader put the LED on and identify partially as an android or should they leave it off and still identify themselves a human? (What ends up happening with have some affect on the story.)


End file.
